Wichita eagle., 1887-05-27

-,s;cso7q, lEoifw ,tdga Isnl edt tTsTs OF
In the Southwestern opafspti FfhHncGHhaz
the sidewalks bad laag aineey1 4hd
the roadway had thecdnj ~ thei foosfNah
there stood an old ibsack 1aitIHg,, MY tee,
from the ground, and eies sstsd about sp
feet above it. sGE 81 '7S"4Sia'
The erection of this quaint structure LAY
hidden in the miSts of the past, almost heyond
the memory of the Oldest inhabitant, who, II,
his boyhood, looked with a religious ava
upon the Associate Reformed church or the
Seceders meeting house. For more than a
generation it had no pastor. no congregation.
no anything 10 connect it with the past or
present save the devotion of a solitary wo-
man, who, as long as she lived, would be "a
psalm singin' member Of psalm singn'
e,:--~h." as she expressed it.
Ii one cO-.Ar of the yard there was q small
frame cottage in striking contrast with the
uiapldated brick church above il. In that
small two roomed building lived Miss Polly.
one OF Efburg's most stsiking characters,
Her only aim in life was TO pros~~t the little
psalm singing church, on which the con-
gregation had long since turned its back to
join in the greater meeting above. Miss
Polly was by no means young. No one asked
her age, it was too delicate subject for her:
and all We're careful OF her feelings. else she
could not have lived so unmolested in such a
remote quarter of the town. She had not
many ideas, but the few she did possess Were
craven upon her very soul, and nothing short
OF presbytery of psalm singing ministers
could have changed her opinions.
As Miss. Polly grew older her devotion to
the little psalm singing church increased
After gathering together few hundred dol
lars, the hard earned savings OF her lonely
lifework, she decided to build home of her
own, under the shadow of the church, of
which she alone was the surviving member
Nothing could disSuade her from it, The idea
came - her late in life; vet il took the usual
adamantine character of all her ideas, and
stayed with her until board was placed upon
post, shingles upon roof, and the small cot
tage became the only settled home that poor
Miss Polly had known for many long years
Tue old church was pressed into service as
a receptacle for the numerous boxes bags
and baskets which were the accumulation of
her years of diving roundr Any bright
morning she might have been seen coming
out of her cottage, armed with formidable
iron key, so large that it would have done
was the key to the old fashioned lock, which
held in doubtful security the sacred interior
of Miss Polly's church.
Opening one side OF the much decayed
doors, she would march rs promptly and
decorously TO her pew in the "amen corner
as though the building were filled with the
same prim brethren and sisters who had occu-
pied it a half century since. With mathe-
NAUTICAL precision she seated herself at O suf-
fcient distance from the end Of the pew
nearest the aisle to allow the shades OF her
father and mother their accustomed places
Not one hairs breadth did she infringe upon
the room of mother on the right of the va
cant seat of her older brother upon the left
She had always seated herself SO in her
parents lifetime, and what was good enough
for her then she would not depart from now.
She would then take her yellowed HYMN
booker, to be orthodox, psalm bools-and
sing in a voice that was peculiarly nerve
racking. No matter where the book opened
there she felt inspired to sing Inspiration
opened the pages at the psalm which she
most needed. She used her own tunes, re-
gardless Of the metrical fitness Of verse and
sound. After her musical uplifting of soul
and voice, she would go about her secular
mites, as if in n more worldly place. Old
inks, hingeless, strapless, lockless. were
round her; handboxes tied with strips Of
ded calico, III lieu of more comely fasten-
s.: pair OF wool cards, long since fallen
into disuse with the spinning wheel and in
a large chair sat long crooked gourd filed
with neatly tied up bundles OF calico, saved
for some new venture in the quilting field.
One morning Miss Polly opened one Of the
trunks which had once been covered with
hair; such a piece of furniture-if trunk
can be said to come under that head-as one
can find nowhere save in the garnet Of some
family long resident in one place, with whom
it is part of the ancestral religion % keep all
that was the grandfather's, from his broad
acres to his saddle stirrups. After raising
the cloth spread carefully beneath the lid,
bag of pumpkin seed first attracted her at
tention-seed saved for no purpose whatever.
since She did not cultivate a garden. Never
theless, they were tied up securely in one Of
a remaining pair of cotton stockings, which
were the work Of the owners hands. When
the stocking was once united in went the
long. slender fingers among the golden seed.
while visions of pumpkin pie eaten at the
Hickey family reunion ten years since, passed
before her mental sight; thoughts of how she
insisted upon the seed Of that special pumpkin
being saved and given TO her, for no reason
in the world save that she enjoyed the posses
sion Of the hofnely and useful
I'VE don't have no more pies Ike them
was The Young folks run aTter the new
tangled mime truck row days. and it's a
goin' 70 take all the sassafras IN the noun
tains TO git the pison cut o their blood in the
spring 0 the year "Ah. ha7 sighed the
speaker, as she laid tho seed Oh q bench by
her side, and reached on. t. the farther end
Of the trunk for large sunset bonnet;
That's my last piece Of foolislness, = CON
tinued prudent Miss Polly. Law me, it,
been fOrty-tvvo years since bought that for
the nestin' a-goiu on at Carr Pond church
All, Preacher StUbbs, you never knowed
how ! lowed to ketch yoU that air time
Sakes alive, these men If they amt the
biggest fools, aud the women makes en- 70 g.
iressin' up ard strBttin round arfeF tiis,n
With a strong emphasis on the latter wori
Miss Polly gave rent 70 Der contempt for the
looseness Of the present as compared with tie
rigii rearing Of her own young life
IVAN. 70 when ] war young: Didn't have
no train - run % them days. steal o s.ayin
a. home a-spsEaia' and g kHittin and a-coTuin'
Up lo0kin proper st meetin' Sundays Bur,
Preacher SfBbls-ah ha~-and she gaze q
sgh. an actual sigh. ith a suggestion Of
feeling IL j.
Il lowed II make him make up 70 ne
ca1ss- eazzse--psh.y ! never caryzi snap
for hin-ghen knoEei hs syzs married
guess than gsis was fo.olin' ms when they
aid be 'l01ed - how bed he g.sezasad to make
ny 'qualnfalr7s - the us-stia. ] ant forget
bow they stood 'roq3nd s-saigzsTin' az Iss
when walked cut o The lsaziss when dsuneF